The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

A mountain bike race??!

Why on earth would I do that?

Other than just morbid curiosity, perhaps I felt compelled to kick off my 2016 season with the XTERRA Granite Bay Off Road Triathlon because I figured if my little brother can mountain bike, then probably I can too. Over the years, my younger siblings have displayed natural cycling and running athleticism and I've come to think of them basically as optimized versions of myself. My brother has won various mountain bike awards and based on his limited updates, I get the idea he and his bike pretty much spend all their time in Moab.

What's so great about mountain biking? I had to know.

I started renting a demo bike from Trailhead Cyclery, attempting to teach myself how to bunny hop and shred. Next, I checked in with my resident MTB guru to find out his secrets. What skills defined an excellent mountain biker? Little brother cited his "total disregard for personal safety," as one of his best assets.

Crap. That one is nowhere near the top of my list of personal traits. I don't think it's even on the list anymore. My youthful invincibility ended abruptly on the softball field one summer day ten years ago when an ill-conceived slide left me captive inside a plaster leg cast for 8 long weeks. NEVER AGAIN.

The popular refrain embedded in all mountain biking advice I received was, "When you go down -- and you will go down ... "

Ugh.

No way I could perhaps negotiate around that requirement?

I had very little familiarity with the course in Granite Bay. I read about "swoopy trails" and a variety of conditions including sand, dirt, rock, etc. It was two 8 mile loops for the bike, with less than 400′ of climbing on each, and that sounded pretty reasonable.

Honestly, I was most concerned about the swim. I had heard rumors that Folsom Lake was snow runoff, and therefore extremely cold this time of year. At just a half mile, the swim would be quick, but very unpleasant.

It turns out, I had nothing to worry about.

... At least as far as the swim was concerned.

The water temperature was just fine, almost comfortable, even. The short swim was complete in just over ten minutes, and transition was smooth, my new XTERRA wetsuit melted right off my legs like hot butter.


Posted by Kimberly 04/11/2016

Vang Vieng is a small town in Northern Laos which is unfortunately a stop on the backpackers beaten trail, destroying any charm it once had and turning it into a feeding frenzy for those looking to squeeze an easy buck from the ignorant travellers. We had to stop however because just outside Vang Vieng are incredible limestone cliffs and the only climbing sites in Laos. The weather was threatening to rain but we decided we couldn't risk missing the only chance we would have. We grabbed our shoes, rented the rope and harnesses we would need from a local shop and headed for the closest, driest site.

Eager to get some real climbing in

Posted by nik 11/15/2008, revised 11/15/2008

If you're reading these entries chronologically, this one is directly linked from the Folk Festival: I arrived back in Townsville Monday morning only to turn right around again and head out for a 3-day camping trip with the ultimate frisbee crowd. And what a fun, fantastic crowd they are!

Monday morning, a group of 11 of us left for Keel Bottom Creek, about 45 minutes northwest of Townsville. We found a great place to set up camp along the creek, complete with a fan-mazing rope swing!! Most of our time was spent on this rope swing - it was perfect. We enjoyed 3 days of just relaxing in the PERfect sunny weather, playing in the creek, lying in the hammock, listening to music and running one of the car batteries dead, sitting by the campfire, and cooking up fantastic campfire-food (i had kangaroo for the first time! roo stew... SO tasty!).

A lot of the people that play ultimate frisbee are study-abroad students, so a number of them are leaving after exams these next 2 weeks. The camping trip was sort of an end-of-term, goodbye celebration for those of us that won't be around anymore, and it was a perfect way to conclude a great semester of fun and friends. We all had the time of our lives, and every moment of the trip was enjoyed to the fullest.

Our group of friends, hanging out on the rope swing tree ...Mom, I know you're squinting your eyes, thinking, "Which one's my daughter?" I'm the one at the very top.

Here again, I don't have my own pictures from the trip, but I've linked one of the other people's photo albums so you can get a look at this amazing trip. But yet again, not many captions, so you'll just have to look and enjoy.

Photo album - Ultimate camping: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2495651&l=fe685&id=13930813

Posted by Whitney 06/15/2008, revised 06/15/2008